Joyo JF-03 Crunch Distortion Guitar Pedal

March 25, 2015

This pedal has made big (sound) waves in all the online communities; and anyone who’s ever heard hair-band metal and early 80s rock knows that this thing is the real deal. It does what the Marshall heads of yesteryear could accomplish but only when turned up so loud the neighbors called the cops because they couldn’t watch Cheers, Newhart or the Growing Pains!

The JF-03 pedal has been heard all over the world now, and more and more people are catching on to the fact that you don’t need a digital modeling amp and complex computer audio for live performances where you want to cover different styles of music. Just grab one of these and you’ll be head-banging and thrashing in spandex with the best of them!

The Crunch Distortion pedal is a bargain and a true dream to work with as a lead guitarist or a rhythm player who requires a second level of gain, particularly for songs featuring sections with multiple distortion sounds. Use your amp’s normal Drive channel for tone A and then when you need that little extra push for the final creshendo or the verse and chorus of your power ballad from Poison, click on the JF-03 — this thing will get you there!

Specifications:

1.Features true bypass wiring, quality components

2.A tone monster / arena rock pedal, designed to

3.Replicate sound of the Marshall crunch gain stage

4.Simple design and pedal interface, comes with 9V

5.Tone, Gain and Volume, what more could you need?

6.Color: red

Pacakge includes:

1 x JOYO JF-03 Guitar Distortion Effect Pedal Red

1 x 6F22 9V battery

1 x user manual

$ 27.60

Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

Extremely high output distortion pedal, great value for singing lead tones and endless sustain!, October 4, 2012

I’ve reviewed several Joyo pedals now and have loved almost all of them…not just because of the price ( to ), but also because of their (apparent) durability and tone quality that would be appreciated at any price. But ultimately, I decided that this is somewhere between a 4* and 5* review, and I just can’t give it the 5* review I’ve given the other Joyo products I’ve tried out thus far.

* Extremely high output and high sustain *When I first plugged this thing in, I had it set up similar to any other distortion pedal I would try out with my Les Paul and VOX combo amp – with the dials all at 12 o’clock (50%). Big mistake. This pedal has an EXTREMELY high output. Depending on the Gain setting, I was achieving output parity with the clean signal with the Volume set at around 25%. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it’s certainly better than having no headroom to set the pedal louder (a frequent criticism of the BOSS DS-1), but it’s something to be aware of.

Also, I read several comments here that this “isn’t a high gain distortion”. I couldn’t disagree more. This thing has TONS of gain. I think people are thrown off by two things: (1) The name, which pays tribute to the MI Audio Crunchbox it clones; and (2) The clarity/transparency of the tone, particularly the higher-end range, that shines through at all Gain levels. “Crunch”, in my mind, refers to a punchy, cleanish tone that has just a little bit of breakup in its character. The Crunch Distortion has a tone that doesn’t really breakup or get “fizzy” as you turn up the Gain, but that’s not what “Gain” really is. The Gain knob increases the saturation and sustain of the note(s), but I think people are fooled by the fact that the sound doesn’t crack up. Hit a barre chord and see how long the note holds with the gain turned up. This actually makes the pedal very useful for lead work, also, which is one of the JF-03’s strengths.

* The setup is weird, but workable *Because of everything I described above, you may use some weird dial configurations to get the tone you want. My level is usually around 25% to 40%, and is still very loud. The “crunchy” classic rock tone that other reviewers talked about does exist, but only at around 5% to 15% of the gain setting. And I had the tone knob generally working from 9 o’ clock to 12 o’clock, as it got a little too bright to go any higher. (Again, this is with Les Paul humbuckers.) Ultimately, what I decided was that this pedal has enough bass, not too much in the midrange, and very distinct high end frequencies that come through very clearly. If you play gigs and are having trouble cutting through the other instruments, I’d imagine this pedal would do the trick!

* It’s costs less than half of many of it’s true “competitors” *While the affordability aspect is distinct from “quality”, it cannot be ignored. Part of my initial disappointment was based on a side-by-side comparison with my MXR ’78 Custom Badass Distortion. The latter did have a fuller sound to it, and was arguably better for rhythm work. But that’s an custom shop pedal from MXR. Try comparing this pedal to a Boss DS-1 or MXR Distortion + and it blows them out of the water (in my opinion). I’m not sure want to roll with the Crunch Distortion being the only dirt box on my board, but if you used it with a specific purpose in mind (like a lead/gain boost), you could afford this and Joyo’s excellent “Ultimate Drive” overdrive pedal for still less than most boutique or even BOSS distortion pedals go for.

UPDATE – About a week into owning this pedal, I did revise this score from a 5* to a 4* rating. If you graded the pedal in a “vacuum”, I could absolutely see a 5* rating for the price tag. But ultimately, there are just a few more problems and quirks about this pedal that I haven’t had with other Joyo products, so the score should reflect that. Please note also (which I didn’t realize before) that the internal trim pot for “presence” is NOT easily accessible unless you are prepared to remove the circuit board and the three jacks that are connected to it. A distributor confirmed for me that this is necessary if you want to make the adjustment, and I have no interest in trying to take apart fragile components for a small change that might not even do anything.

A bought this pedal to see how such a cheap stomp box could get such great reviews. Plugging it in and playing it for 5 minutes one can see. It has tons of gain on tap, it responds well to the guitars volume knob, it creates a wall of overdriven amp tonal love.

The pedal cuts through and is articulate. It’s not for modern metal but it can do any kind of hard rock. Think AC/DC and Van Halen to Metallica. It’s a classic rock pedal that screams!!!

Good: Plenty of gain on hand. Lots of sustain! This thing can get really loud. It gives your inexpensive tube amp that Marshall crunch. Built well, it’s casing is made out of metal, not plastic. Inexpensive but performs and sounds just as well as boutique boxes costing 3 times as much. If you’re looking for your first cheap distortion pedal, forget the Boss DS-1 and get this one! Well worth the money.

Bad: Adds a little noise & hiss specially to single coils (strats & teles). You might need to use a noise gate to tame the noise. Quieter with humbuckers but hums when I use it with my Xotic EP Booster which I always keep on. It doesn’t happen when I boost my overdrives (OCD & Hardwire CM-2). If you move farther away from your amp, the hum disappears but you can still hear some noise. I guess this is typical for distortion boxes. No need to boost it though, it already has that thick & big sound to start with. It didn’t come with a 9V battery as shipped, not a big deal ’cause I use a power adapter anyway.

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